Pages

Monday, January 12, 2015

Plaid Peaks Finished

"The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry." Sometimes that's not a bad thing.

The doodle I'd drawn to be free-motion quilted on this wall hanging just did not work.

Neither did Plans B and C. They seemed doable on paper and on the practice pad (below), but on the piece itself, not so much.

After picking out the stitching for about an hour last evening, I finally just slapped on some blue painters tape as a straight-line quilting guide and called it a day. Thus was quilted Plaid Peaks. Sometimes it's best to K.I.S.S. (keep it simple).

The free-motion quilting was good practice, anyway. I'll keep the ideas in mind to try again sometime.Overall, I'm happy with how the wall hanging turned out. The plaids were thrifted shirt scraps left over from a recent project.

I'd been thinking about using some of the shirt buttons in some way, and how I ended up sewing them on was an impulse decision. I'm okay with them for now, but if I wake up tomorrow and come to my senses am of a different opinion, they can be snipped off.

I do love plaids. Must be those Celtic roots. I've got a weakness for men in kilts too, but that's another story.

I've got my amp for sale on Craigslist. A guy came over to check it out the other night, so I had to get out my guitar and make sure everything was working and sounding okay. He played harmonica (and didn't buy the amp, said he'd think about it). Meanwhile, I kind of enjoyed playing my guitar a little bit again after having ignored it for a couple years. The next day, everything was still sitting out, and as I was listening to some music on YouTube, I picked up the guitar and figured out how to play this song. Fortunately, the chords were pretty easy for a rusty gal with no callouses on her fingertips. But holy harmony, these folks can sing a pretty, melancholy song.

13 comments:

I love your free motion quilting, the sample looks rather spiffy. You will have to try again. Your finished quilt looks great with or without the buttons. So you love a man in a kilt do you....the mind boggles!

Your free motion quilting was great in my opinion? I need to remember to KISS some more projects myself! I just sold my old dryer on Craigslist......hope you are able to sell your amp! Great song and video! LOVE IT!

I'm mad for your plaid quilts!I was thinking about you yesterday as a pile of Tim's shirts await their trip to Salvation Armani. Hmmm...might have to go through them again, as I'm inspired by your gorgeous projects.

PS...Love your passion for music. Your taste is diverse & I enjoy all the music you've exposed me to and share on your blog. Happy Tuesday! ツ

I have never done an free motion quilting, or any other kind of quilting...I really enjoyed seeing the doodles, and hearing about the blue painter's tape guide lines. I would never have thought of either of those steps so I learned a bunch. The finished quilt is very pretty, and the music is very nice as well!

I really like the buttons and the texture they add. I'm working on my geese on a string. Turns out mine are going to big "honkers" and I can get a good sized donation quilt out of it. Yeah! (I'm typing this while listening to the music video. Great sound.)

Paulette, you are always full of surprises. How neat that you play guitar! While the FMQ-ing you did is pretty, I too like the simple straight line quilting you did better for this quilt. It goes better with the plaids. Nothing twirly about them. This is such a striking quilt and I love it!